How old is Rotaru Sofia Mikhailovna - the singer’s creative path. Sofia Rotaru - a legend of Soviet music
Sofia Mikhailovna Rotaru ( real name– Rotar) is a favorite singer of several generations of Soviet people, owner of a beautiful contralto, multiple winner of international and domestic song competitions.
Her songs united the cultures of several nationalities, and her tours were a great success not only in the USSR, but also in Canada, Bulgaria, Romania, and many other countries.
For my long creative career the performer achieved real success:
- Sofia Rotaru, whose discography includes 10 vinyl albums and 10 laser discs, is still one of the most popular singers. During the Soviet era, the singer's records were released in huge quantities, and the lyrics and music for her were written by such talented authors as Ivasyuk, Zatsepin, Gromtsev, Dutkovsky and Tukhmanov.
- Sofia Mikhailovna is a talented actress. She not only starred in 27 musical films, but also performed soundtracks for them, three of which later became real hits. Rotaru was never afraid to take risks: on the set of the film “Where Are You, Love?” she herself performed a dangerous stunt - she rode a motorcycle along a steep cliff, and while working on “Monologue of Love” she rode a board in the open sea.
- Sofia Rotaru is a People's Artist of Moldova, Ukraine and the USSR. Three times she was awarded state awards of the USSR. At home, Sofia Rotaru received three honorary orders of Princess Olga, the title of hero, and a badge of honor from the president. Moldova recognized the singer’s merits with a republican order, Russia – with a prize and the Order of Honor. The performer’s list of musical awards is even more impressive: 12 “Golden Gramophones”, the title “Woman of the Year”, “Star of Ukraine”, several “Ovation” awards and other music awards, and the title of best singer, which was repeatedly awarded.
Childhood and youth
The entire biography of Sofia Rotaru confirms the fact that no obstacles can hinder real talent. The singer was born in a small Ukrainian village called Marshintsy. She was the second eldest of six children in the family of Moldavian winegrower Mikhail Rotar.
In the harsh post-war years, the only consolation for most Soviet citizens was a radio, and the Rotar family was no exception. Sofia’s older sister, Zina, who was blind after typhus, spent especially a lot of time at the receiver. Listening to songs in Russian, she not only learned the language herself, but also helped the rest of the family master it, because before that, only their native Moldavian was spoken at home.
Sonya's musical abilities were discovered quite early, and also thanks to Zina, who had perfect, almost absolute pitch. As Sofia Rotaru herself admitted, life could have turned out differently if not for her sister, who became her first teacher.
Little Sonechka adored theatrical performances, enjoyed studying in the drama club, and in the evenings she sang her favorite songs to the accordion. Sofia Mikhailovna said more than once that music was always present in her life: they sang at the table, during weddings, funerals, at gatherings - everyone, from young to old. Sofia Rotaru in her youth already had a strong voice, for which residents of the surrounding villages awarded her the affectionate nickname “Marshinitsa Nightingale”.
First steps to success
Luck smiled at Rotaru in 1962. After winning the regional folk song competition, she was offered to take part in the regional talent show, which was to be held in Chernivtsi. The singer captivated the jury with her masterly performance of the song in Spanish “Kiss Me Harder”, for which she received first prize and a nomination to participate in a talent competition in Kyiv (1963).
In 1964, after graduating from school, Rotaru entered the conducting and choral department of the Chernivtsi Music College and graduated with honors. Three years later, singer Sofia Rotaru, together with other creative groups, goes to the World Festival of Youth and Students in Bulgaria, where she takes a prize and receives honorary award in the competition for the title of best performer of folk songs. The public was delighted with the singer’s voice, and journalists wrote: “Sofia conquered Sofia.”
1971 was a special year for Rotaru: the famous director Alekseev invited her to star in the musical film “Chervona Ruta” and sing several songs along with the then popular singers Zinkevich and Yaremchuk. This is how Rotaru met the aspiring composer and poet Vladimir Ivasyuk, who would later write more than one hit for her. The film was a resounding success, and Rotaru was offered to create a group at the Chernivtsi Philharmonic and call it “Chervona Ruta”.
At the peak of his musical career
The singer and her band began touring throughout the country. Their debut performance was in Star City in front of the astronauts. The direction in which the group worked was very unusual for the Soviet listener, as it combined elements folk music, modern rhythms and pop instrumental arrangement.
At the beginning of 1972, Sofia Mikhailovna and her musicians toured Poland with great success, where grateful spectators gave a standing ovation. A little later, Rotaru went to the Orpheus festival, which took place on Sunny Beach, Bulgaria, where she took first place with the compositions “Bird” and “My City”. The second song turned out to be so successful that, having performed it later in Russian, Rotaru was able to reach the finals of the “Song of the Year” competition, popular in the USSR.
Sofia Rotaru liked patriotic songs, and she soulfully sang “The Enemies Burnt My Home”, as well as “Happiness to You, My Land” and the song “My Motherland” specially written for her voice. It is noteworthy that during concerts the singer always established contact with the audience: she went down into the hall and sang along with everyone. Sofia Mikhailovna often said that sincere applause is much more valuable to her than awards, because the meaning of creativity is to give joy and beauty.
The 80s brought the Soviet pop star victory at song competition in Tokyo, where she performed the song "Promise". Rotaru's popularity was growing, but she wanted to try herself in a new capacity. And Sofia Mikhailovna took part in the filming of the film - it was the film “Where are you, love?”
The film turned out to be so successful that it was nominated for prestigious awards several times, and the songs from the film were released as a separate disc. In the 90s, the singer filmed a lot, gave numerous concerts and received four prestigious awards.
After the collapse of the USSR, Rotaru’s concert geography changed, but this did not in the least prevent her from remaining one of the most popular singers on the Russian stage, along with Pugacheva, to this day.
Personal life
Sofia Rotaru is sure that her personal life was successful, because next to her long years was a wonderful man. Sofia Rotaru’s husband, Anatoly Evdokimenko, was from a simple family, was also fond of music and dreamed of creating his own band. Having seen a photo of young Sofia in the press, he decided that she should become the lead singer of his group. Anatoly found the girl, and four years later they got married and moved to Novosibirsk.
I must say that Anatoly was incredibly happy when his child was born. No wonder it is said that true meaning life - children. Sofia Rotaru really wanted to get pregnant again, but she did not dare, which she still regrets.
Her son Ruslan became a music producer, and his wife became the singer’s executive director. Sofia Rotaru’s granddaughter, Sofia, adores her grandmother and spends a lot of time with her, and grandson Anatoly tries his hand at the Ukrainian stage. The singer loves her family very much; she still financially helps all her relatives, pays for their education and treatment.
Sofia Rotaru’s personal life changed dramatically after the death of her beloved husband in 2002 (he died of a heart attack). The singer grieved for a long time, she stopped performing, and her family and fans were seriously concerned about her health. However, Sofia was able to pull herself together and return to a full life. The singer celebrated her 55th birthday among her family on a yacht.
What's going on in the singer's life now?
Despite her advanced age, the singer looks in such a way that many people wonder: “How old is Sofia Rotaru?” She does not hide the fact that she has resorted to the services of specialists several times. plastic surgery, however, the interventions were very small. Rotaru advises fans to lead healthy image life, eat right and move a lot - only this will help you maintain excellent physical shape.
Sofia Rotaru rarely gives concerts now, and due to the worsening political situation does not visit Russia. About 10 years ago, she ran in elections to the Ukrainian parliament, toured almost all of Ukraine, but never received the required number of votes.
What is Sofia Rotaru doing now? The latest news reported on Instagram by her relatives confirms that the singer spends a lot of time with her family, plays sports, and also works in the studio on a new song. Author: Natalya Ivanova
Sofia Mikhailovna Rotaru- famous Russian, Moldavian and Ukrainian pop singer, actress.
Sofia Rotar (later the surname was changed) was born in the village of Marshintsy, Novoselitsky district, Chernivtsi region, Ukrainian SSR. The passport officer made a mistake in the girl’s birth certificate, recording her birthday on August 9, which is why Sofia Mikhailovna celebrates the holiday twice throughout her life. Sofia was the second of six children, and owes much of her musicality to her older sister Zina, who lost her sight after a serious illness, but had a unique hearing. She taught her younger sister many songs and the Russian language, since in the Rotar community they spoke only Moldavian.
As a child, Sofia went in for sports - athletics, all-around, and won sports competitions. From the first grade she sang in the school choir, church choir (even though this was prohibited), studied in the drama club and sang at the same time folk songs in amateur performances, played the accordion. Later she said:
I grew up surrounded by music, it surrounded me since childhood!
The father was proud of his daughter’s success, saying: “Sonya will be an artist!”
In 1962, Sofia Rotar won the regional amateur art competition, and grateful compatriots called her “Bukovinian Nightingale.” It seemed that Sofia could do everything: sing alto and soprano, recitative and acapella... As the winner, she was sent to Kyiv to participate in the republican festival of folk talents, where the aspiring singer won again. The young beauty appeared on the cover of Ukraine magazine in 1965. Her future husband Anatoly Evdokimenko fell in love with this photo.
Rotaru decided to become a singer and entered the conducting and choral department of the Chernivtsi Music College. In 1964, Sofia sang for the first time on the stage of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. After graduating from music school, Rotaru began traveling to various festivals, since the talented girl was necessarily included in youth delegations. In Bulgaria, 21-year-old Sofia won a gold medal and first prize at a folk song competition.
Lyudmila Zykina then called her “a singer with a great future.”
After graduating from the music school, Rotaru began teaching there. In 1968, she married Anatoly Evdokimenko, a guy who fell in love with her from a photo and still found his beloved... In 1970, she gave birth to a son, Ruslan.
And in 1971, the film “Chervona Ruta” with Sofia Rotaru in the title role was released. After its release, Sofia received an offer to create the ensemble “Chervona Ruta”. Collaboration with composer Vladimir Ivasyuk raised the singer’s popularity to unattainable heights. Since the 1970s, songs performed by Sofia Rotaru have constantly become winners of the “Song of the Year”.
In 1974, Rotaru graduated from the Chisinau Institute of Arts named after Muzichescu. In 1976, Sofia Mikhailovna became People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR and laureate of the LKSMU Prize. Ostrovsky and began to constantly appear in the New Year's “Blue Lights”. That same year, a German recording company drew attention to her, but a directive came from the State Concert not to perform songs on foreign languages and non-Soviet content... Nevertheless, the tour in Europe, which was resoundingly successful, took place.
In 1979, the beloved composer Rotaru Ivasyuk died tragically. That happy time period sank into oblivion with the departure of this talented man.
In 1980, Sofia Rotaru was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor. And in 1981, Rotaru began collaborating with Time Machine. her work shifted towards rock themes. The same year, Rotaru performed a role in the film “Where Are You, Love?”, without an understudy, she rode along a narrow embankment along the sea on a motorcycle.
And in 1983, the Rotaru team was banned from traveling due to the recording of a Canadian album. But she still received the title of People's Artist of Moldova. Subsequently, several musical films were shot: “Sofia Rotaru is inviting you” and “Monologue about love.”
Composer Vladimir Matetsky brought a new spirit to the singer’s work. By the end of the 1980s, Rotaru became the first lady of the Soviet stage, eclipsing Alla Pugacheva herself. She began collaborating with the show ballet “Todes”, which made her concert performances unforgettable.
In 1991, Sofia Rotaru presented an anniversary program in Moscow dedicated to the 20th anniversary of creative activity “Flowers of Sofia Rotaru”. On stage, the singer sang songs of her youth: “Chervona Ruta”, “Cheremshina”, “Maple Vogon”, “Edge”, “Blue Bird”, “Zhovty Leaf”, as well as new ones: “Tango”, “Wild Swans” and others. Rotaru opened its own recording studio in Yalta.
In 1993, the first two CDs of the collection were released best songs singers - “Sofia Rotaru” and “Lavender”, then - “Golden Songs 1985/95” and “Khutoryanka”. In 1995, Sofia Rotaru starred in the musical film “Old Songs about the Main Thing”, at “Song-96” Sofia Rotaru was recognized as “Best Pop Singer of 1996”, in 1997 Sofia Rotaru starred in the musical film “10 Songs about Moscow”, and in 1997, Sofia Rotaru became an Honorary Citizen of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea; winner of the honorary prize of the President of Ukraine for outstanding contribution to development pop art“Song Vernissage” and Knight of the “Order of the Republic of Moldova”.
Based on the results of 1999, Sofia Rotaru was recognized as the best singer of Ukraine in the “Traditional Variety” nomination. She received the “Golden Firebird” and a special award “for her contribution to the development of domestic pop music.” In the same year, the singer for special personal merits in the development of song creativity, many years of fruitful concert activity and high performing arts awarded the “Order of St. Princess Olga, III degree.” The Russian Biographical Institute recognized the singer as Person of the Year 1999.
In 2000, in Kyiv, Sofia Rotaru was recognized as “Man of the 20th Century”, “Best Ukrainian Pop Singer of the 20th Century”, “Golden Voice of Ukraine”, Winner of the “Prometheus - Prestige” Award, “Woman of the Year”. In the same year, Sofia Rotaru became the Laureate of the Ovation Prize, “For a special contribution to the development of Russian stage" In August 2000, the singer’s official website was opened.
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of her creative activity, the singer released the concert program “My Life is My Love!” Before solo concerts in Moscow, the film and video association “Close-up” presented a video version of the film “Soul” filmed by the Mosfilm studio in 1981 with Sofia Rotaru in the title role. The film took 5th place at the box office in the USSR and is considered Rotaru's most successful film work.
In 2002, Rotaru’s spouse, Anatoly Evdokimenko, who lived with her all his life, died. However, despite the loss, Sofia Mikhailovna found the strength to live and work further: in 2004, 2005 and 2006, Sofia Rotaru became the most beloved singer in Russia according to polls from sociological agencies.
On his 60th birthday (2007), the President of Ukraine awarded Rotaru the Order of Merit, II degree.
After counting all Rotaru's songs performed in the finals of the Song of the Year festival, it turned out that Rotaru holds the absolute record among all participants in history - 79 songs performed at 36 festivals
Sofia Rotaru ( full name- Sofia Mikhailovna Evdokimenko-Rotaru, Moldova. Sofia Rotaru, Ukrainian Sofia Rotaru) is a famous Soviet, Ukrainian, Moldavian and Russian pop singer and actress.
S. M. Rotaru is a citizen of Ukraine, an honorary citizen of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Chernivtsi. Lives in Yalta and Kyiv. Possessing a soprano voice, she was the first famous Soviet pop singer to sing recitative and begin to use a rhythm computer in the musical arrangement of songs.
If there was a fire in your house, what would you take out first?
- I would run away.
(Interview "Cosmopolitan Sofia")
Rotaru Sofia Mikhailovna
Her repertoire includes more than 400 songs in Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian/Moldovan, Bulgarian, Serbian, Polish, German, Italian, Spanish and English.
Sofia Rotaru's career is marked by both all-Union and international success on the music scene. In the Soviet media and society, she was recognized as one of the leading singers of the USSR; before the collapse of the USSR, the foreign press called her “Conductor of the USSR” (Dirigentin der UdSSR), comparing her with Nana Mouskouri. Nowadays she is called “legendary”, “queen of the stage”, “diva” and “golden voice of Ukraine”.
The work of S. Rotaru has been repeatedly awarded honorary titles: the title of Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1973), People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1976), People's Artist of the Moldavian SSR (1983), People's Artist of the USSR (1988), laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize, Hero of Ukraine, Knight of the Moldavian "Order of the Republic". In 2000, the Supreme Academic Council of Ukraine recognized her as the best Ukrainian pop singer of the 20th century.
Sofia Mikhailovna, how many languages do you know?
- I speak Moldovan, Ukrainian and Russian, but it is important that we understand each other.
(20.02.94, Kyiv, 18:15, response to a boy from the crowd)
Rotaru Sofia Mikhailovna
Sofia Rotaru is one of the highest paid singers in the world and the highest paid singer in Ukraine (in 2008, she declared the highest income in the country, which significantly exceeds 500 million hryvnia (~$100 million)). IN Lately S. Rotaru is also involved in entrepreneurship.
The village of Marshintsi, where the singer was born, was part of Romania until 1940, which was the reason for the different spellings of the singer’s first and last names. In the credits of the film "Chervona Ruta" Sofia also appears with the surname Rotar. In earlier filming, the name was written Sophia.
Edita Pieha advised Sofia to write her surname in the Moldovan style with the letter “u” at the end. As it turned out, the new stage name is just a well-forgotten old one. Translated from Romanian, “Rotaru” means wheelwright.
Once again, Aurika can’t be heard at all!
- She sings along in Moldavian...
- She doesn’t sing along in Moldavian. Get it now, crests! Aurika, sing.
- I don’t sing at the beginning...
- And I say: sing.
(In response to the banter of Anatoly Kirillovich and Ilya Savelyevich towards Aurika Rotaru at one of the rehearsals in Krasnodar (`93))
Rotaru Sofia Mikhailovna
Sofia Rotaru was born on August 7, 1947, the second of six children, in the family of a winegrower foreman, in the village of Marshintsy (Novoselitsky district, Chernivtsi region, Ukrainian SSR).
Due to a mistake by the passport officer who wrote August 9 in the passport, the birthday is celebrated twice. Sofia Rotaru's father, having gone through the entire war as a machine gunner to Berlin, being wounded and returning home only in 1946, was the first in the village to join the party.
Older sister Zina (born October 11, 1942), suffered serious illness and lost her sight. Zina, having perfect pitch, easily memorized new songs and taught Sofia many folk songs, becoming both a second mother and a favorite teacher.
Make sure no one is visible. And me too…
(04/13/95, Kharkov, pyrotechnics - about smoke on stage...)
Rotaru Sofia Mikhailovna
In an interview given many years later, the singer admitted that she now gets up around 10 a.m., going to bed after two in the morning. Sofia Rotaru does not bargain on the market: “This is hellish work,” she told her husband, “don’t you dare.” Later, in the film “Where are you, love?”, an autobiographical episode will appear where Sofia Rotaru milks a cow.
Being lively and active, Sofia did a lot of sports and athletics. She became the school's all-around champion and went to regional competitions. At the regional sports day in Chernivtsi, she became the winner in the 100 and 800 meters.
Later, she performed roles without stunt doubles in the film “Where Are You Love?”, driving along a narrow embankment in the middle of the sea on a motorcycle, as well as in the film “Monologue about Love,” where she windsurfs on the open sea.
They say that you started singing from the cradle?
-I couldn’t do it in diapers: the pacifier was in the way.
(Interview with the newspaper "Nedelya", 1978)
Rotaru Sofia Mikhailovna
Sofia's musical abilities showed up very early. Sofia Rotaru began singing in the first grade in the school choir, and also sang in the church choir (although this was not welcomed at school - she was even threatened with expulsion from the pioneers).
In her youth, she was attracted to the theater, she studied in a drama club and at the same time sang folk songs in amateur performances, took the only button accordion at school and at night, when the kerosene lamp went out in the house, went into the barn and picked out her favorite melodies of Moldavian songs.
Her first teacher was her father, who himself, in his youth, loved to sing, possessing an absolute musical ear and a beautiful voice.
At school, Sofia learned to play the domra and button accordion, participated in amateur performances, and gave concerts in surrounding villages. She especially loved home concerts. The six children of Mikhail Fedorovich, the father of Sofia Rotaru, formed a well-coordinated choir. The father, believing in his daughter’s great future, said: “Sonya will be an artist.”
The first success came to Sofia Rotaru in 1962. Victory in the regional amateur art competition opened the way for her to the regional show. For her voice, her fellow countrymen awarded her the title “Bukovinian Nightingale.”
The young singer’s voice was unique in that, being alto and singing such opera works, like “Kiss me harder” in Spanish (the song was included in the collection “Night at the Opera”), she became the first pop singer to sing recitative (later singing both rock and rap (“Chervona Ruta”, 2006, Sofia Rotaru and TNMK ) and jazz (like the song “Flowers Shop”) works).
The following year, 1963, in Chernivtsi, at a regional amateur art show, she also won a first-degree diploma.
As the winner, she was sent to Kyiv to participate in the Republican Festival of Folk Talents (1964). In the capital of the Ukrainian SSR, Rotaru was again the first.
On this occasion, her photo was placed on the cover of the magazine “Ukraine” No. 27 for 1965, after seeing which her future husband, Anatoly Evdokimenko, fell in love with her. After this competition, People's Artist of the USSR Dmitry Gnatyuk told his fellow countrymen: “This is your future celebrity. Mark my words."
After winning the republican competition and graduating from school in 1964, Sofia firmly decided to become a singer and entered the conducting and choral department (since there was no vocal department) of the Chernivtsi Music College.
In 1964, Sofia sang for the first time on the stage of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. At the same time, in the Urals, in Nizhny Tagil, a young guy from Chernivtsi was serving - Anatoly Evdokimenko, the son of a builder and a teacher, who also had “one music” (as Sofia’s mother told her daughter) in his head. Anatoly Evdokimenko graduated from music school, played the trumpet, planning to create an ensemble.
The same issue of the magazine “Ukraine” with a photograph of a beautiful girl on the cover came to his unit, after which he returned and began looking for Sofia. He, being a student at Chernivtsi University and a trumpeter in the student pop orchestra, discovered Sofia pop orchestra, since before that violins and cymbals were used to accompany Rotaru’s songs.
Sofia Rotaru still devotes a significant place in her concert programs to folk songs in modern arrangements. The first pop song performed by Sofia Rotaru was “Mama” by Bronevitsky.
In 1968, after graduating from music school, Rotaru was delegated as part of a creative group to Bulgaria for the IX World Festival of Youth and Students, where she won a gold medal and first prize in a competition of folk song performers.
Bulgarian newspapers were full of headlines: “21-year-old Sofia conquered Sofia.” This is how the performance of the Ukrainian folk song “I Stand on the Stones” and the Moldavian “I Love Spring”, as well as “Step” by A. Pashkevich and “Valentina” by G. Georgitsa were appreciated.
The last song was dedicated to the first female cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, Valentina Tereshkova, who was present in the hall. The chairman of the jury, Lyudmila Zykina, then said about Rotaru: “This is a singer with a great future...”
After graduating from music school, she became a teacher. In the same 1968, Sofia Rotaru married Anatoly Evdokimenko, who, after graduating from Chernivtsi University, did an internship in Novosibirsk and was also a trumpeter in the student pop orchestra. The young family spent their honeymoon in the dormitory of the 105th military plant.
Anatoly Evdokimenko worked at the plant named after. Lenin, and Sofia Rotaru cooked food for everyone, and in the evenings she sang at the Otdykh club. The newlyweds left after 3 months. In an interview, Sofia Rotaru admitted that after a year of marriage she began to dream of a child. At the same time, Anatoly Evdokimenko had other creative plans and he continued his studies.
Then they lived with their parents in a two-room apartment; he had not yet graduated from university. Sofia Rotaru lied: “Listen, the doctor said that I will soon become a mother. Although in reality I was not in a position at that moment - I had to use a little feminine trick. Tolik shook his head: “Well, good.” He relaxed, let down his guard and began to wait for the heir to be born.
The child was born eleven months later. “Now I believe that I did everything right, then I simply wouldn’t have time - these endless tours would begin.” Before giving birth, she hurried home to iron the dress she wore to the maternity hospital with her husband, since looking amazing in any situation was her lifestyle. On August 24, 1970, son Ruslan was born.
In 1971, at Ukrtelefilm, director Roman Alekseev made a musical film about tender and pure love a mountain girl and a Donetsk boy - “Chervona Ruta” (Chervona Ruta is the name of a flower taken from an ancient Carpathian legend. Ruta blooms only on the night of Ivan Kupala, and the girl who manages to see the blooming rue will be happy in love).
Sofia Rotaru became the main character film. Songs by composer V. Ivasyuk and other authors were also performed by V. Zinkevich, N. Yaremchuk and other singers. The film was a significant success. After the release of the film, Sofia Rotaru received an invitation to work at the Chernivtsi Philharmonic and create her own ensemble, the name of which appeared by itself - “Chervona Ruta”.
As a result of collaboration with composer Vladimir Ivasyuk, a cycle of songs was created based on folklore material and a style of performance using instruments and arrangements typical of pop music of the 60s and 70s.
This led to the enormous popularity of Rotaru in the Ukrainian SSR. Assessing the role of Sofia Rotaru in popularizing Ivasyuk’s songs, his father, the famous Ukrainian writer M. Ivasyuk, said in front of an audience of thousands of fellow countrymen: “We must bow deeply to the Moldavian girl Sonya, who spread my son’s songs all over the world.”
The debut performance of “Chervona Ruta” was in Star City with Soviet cosmonauts. It was there that Sofia Rotaru and the Chervona Ruta ensemble first announced themselves as outstanding representatives of an entire direction of Soviet pop art, characteristic feature which is a combination in the repertoire and style of performance of elements of folk music with modern rhythms.
Cosmonaut V. Shatalov, on behalf of his colleagues, wished her great success in songwriting. This stage was followed by the stage of the Central Concert Hall "Russia", the Kremlin Palace and the stage of the Variety Theater.
The singer's outward restraint left no room for fussiness and unjustified gesticulation. This was the beginning of widespread recognition of Sofia Rotaru. Since 1971, Sofia Rotaru has been counting her professional creative activity.
Its authors were V. Ivasyuk, a music school student Valery Gromtsev, the head of the Smerichka VIA Levko Dutkovsky, and the mentors were the deputy director of the Chernivtsi Philharmonic Pincus Abramovich Falik and his wife, Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR Sidi Lvovna Tal.
Falik was at that time one of the largest administrators with international recognition. Before the outbreak of World War II, he was the producer of the famous English singer Geri Scott.
The first professional program of “Chervona Ruta” was not approved by the artistic council, because instead of the theme “love, Komsomol and spring” she sang “Enemies burned their home.” The commission of the Ministry of Culture did not like this, and the program was banned.
After Falik’s call to Moscow, “Chervona Ruta”, bypassing all prohibitions, was included in the “Soviet and Foreign Pop Stars” program and the ensemble found itself in the company of the Germans, Bulgarians, Czechs, and Yugoslavs.
In Tashkent, people mistook her for a foreigner and after the concert they asked if she liked Soviet Union, where she learned to sing in Russian so well. In Grozny, at the stadium, during the performance, the singer’s “zipper” burst on her back, which was noticed by the audience. The singer held the dress until one of the spectators pinned it.
Thanks to the popularization of her work by the official Soviet authorities as an example of international Soviet culture (the ethnic Moldavian sang songs in Moldavian, Ukrainian and Russian), as well as the sincere sympathy of a multimillion-dollar public, Rotaru had a constant audience on radio and television, and conducted active concert activities.
In 1972, with the program “Songs and Dances of the Land of the Soviets,” Sofia Rotaru and “Chervona Ruta” took part in a tour of Poland.
In 1973, the Golden Orpheus competition took place in Burgas (Bulgaria). Rotaru received first prize there, performing “My City” by Evgeniy Doga and the song in Bulgarian “Bird” by T. Rusev and D. Demyanov. 1973 brought her the title of Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. The songs “Codri” and “My City” performed by her in the Moldovan language were recorded in the film “Spring Consonances - 73”.
In 1973, for the first time, he became a laureate in the finals of the “Song of the Year” festival with the song “My City” (translated from Moldavian to the Russian version, which immediately became the hallmark of Chisinau).
In 1974 she won first prize at the festival in Sopot (Poland).
Since the 1970s, songs performed by Sofia Rotaru have constantly become winners of the “Song of the Year”. They were created in collaboration with the best composers and poets of the country.
Arno Babajanyan wrote “Give Back the Music to Me”, Alexey Mazhukov - “And the Music Sounds” and “Red Arrow”, Pavel Aedonitsky - “For Those Who Wait”, Oscar Feltsman - “Only for You”, David Tukhmanov - “Stork on the Roof” , “In My House” and “Waltz”, Yuri Saulsky - “An Ordinary Story” and “Autumn Melody”, Alexandra Pakhmutova - “Temp”, Raymond Pauls - “Dance on the Drum”, Alexander Zatsepin - “Just like on Earth” and etc.
Sofia Rotaru was the first performer of songs by composer Evgeny Martynov, such as “Swan Fidelity”, “Apple Trees in Bloom” and “Ballad of Mother”. The “patriotic line” in Rotaru’s work is widely known; songs such as “My Motherland”, “Happiness to you, My Land” are rightfully considered masterpieces of patriotic Soviet song.
In 1974, Sofia Rotaru graduated from the Chisinau Institute of Arts. G. Muzichesku and became a laureate of the Amber Nightingale festival in Sopot (Poland), where she performed “Memories” by B. Rychkov and “Vodograi” by Vladimir Ivasyuk. For her performance of the Polish song “Someone” from Halina Frontskowiak’s repertoire (Russian text by A. Dementiev), the singer received second prize.
In creativity, contact with the public is most important for Rotaru - a well-known technique is entering the hall and performing songs directly with the audience. In one of her interviews, she said that “the most important thing for a singer is public recognition, and no one needs awards.”
Sofia Rotaru said: “I was the first performer of many songs by one of my favorite composers, Evgeniy Martynov. I love his “Swan Fidelity”, “Ballad of Mother”.
My repertoire includes songs of different genres, but almost always - a dramatic plot, a dramatic melody. A song for me is a small short story with its own world of feelings, dramatic structure, and characters.”
The album “Sofia Rotaru” of 1974, as well as the musical television film “The Song is Always with Us”, outlined the priorities of the singer’s creativity in the 1970s - the lyrics of the Lviv composer Vladimir Ivasyuk and the dramatic songs of the Moscow composer Evgeny Martynov.
The joint work of Evgeny Martynov and the poet Andrei Dementyev - “The Ballad of a Mother” - performed by Sofia Rotaru became a laureate of the television competition “Song-74”.
This is a dramatic story about the unhealed wounds of a long-faded war, the cry of a woman who saw her forever lost son brought to life for a moment on the silver screen.
This performance showed the ability to dramatize and play the song theatrically, which revealed new qualities of the songs and new expressive capabilities of the singer and future actress.
In 1975, at the “Song-75” festival, songs performed by Sofia Rotaru “Swan Fidelity” and “Apple Trees in Blossom” reached the finals. The song “Smuglyanka” was performed with the Yugoslav singer Miki Efremovich. A year later, the songs “Give Me Back the Music” and “Dark Night” made it to the finals of the festival. The second of them was performed with Anatoly Mokrenko.
In 1975, Sofia Rotaru, together with the Chervona Ruta ensemble, moved to Yalta, because the singer had problems with the Chernivtsi Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Ukrainian SSR. Sofia Rotaru's father, Mikhail Fedorovich, was expelled from the CPSU and fired from his job, and the singer's brother was expelled from the Komsomol and from the university due to the fact that the family continued to celebrate the unofficial holiday - Old New Year.
At the same time, during a tour in Crimea, the singer received an invitation from Alexei Chernyshev, director of the Crimean Philharmonic and Nikolai Kirichenko, first secretary of the Crimean Regional Committee, to move to Crimea, where Sofia Rotaru became a soloist in the same year.
People said that Sofia Rotaru moved to Yalta due to the onset of asthma, the reason for these rumors was the singer’s excessive thinness, and she actually often performed, having a cold, in the cold, giving 3-4 concerts a day.
In 1976, Sofia Rotaru became People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR and laureate of the LKSMU Prize. Ostrovsky.
In 1976, the Munich company Ariola-Eurodisc GmbH (Sony BMG Music Entertainment) invited Sofia Rotaru, the only singer from the USSR, to record an EP of two German songs, it was released in 1978, with the name Deine Zartlichkeit, consisting of two songs on in German - Deine Zartlichkeit (Your tenderness) and Nachts, wenn die Nebel ziehen (At night when the mists spread), written in collaboration with Michael Kunze and Anthony Monn, who at that time also began working with Amanda Lear, Karel Gott.
At the end of the 70s, there were deafening tours in Europe: Yugoslavia, Romania, East Germany, Germany, West Berlin. In the fall of 1979 alone, Sofia Rotaru gave more than 20 concerts in Munich and other cities.
A West German company offered to release a disc with Italian and French songs. Sofia's Italian language is very close, just like French, - languages belonging to the same language group - Romance, like Moldavian. At the same time, a directive came from the State Concert to sing only Soviet songs.
Official information about the content of cooperation with a Western record company appeared only in the mid-80s, almost ten years after the release of the single, after perestroika began.
From an interview with Moskovskaya Pravda, March 13, 1979: - The Munich company Ariola, which gave worldwide fame to Mireille Mathieu, Karel Gott and many other foreign pop singers, invited you, by the way, so far the only singer from the USSR, to record on a large disk. Tell us about this work. - The first test album of two songs in German has already been released.
Now I am going again to Germany, to Munich, where the same company will release a large disc, which will include folk songs and songs of Soviet composers.
But the recording of a large disc did not take place, since Western producers offered Sofia Mikhailovna to record a large studio disc, which, in addition to songs in German, should have included French, Italian, English, such as “Say that you love” by Nino Rota from “The Godfather” on original language (Speak Softly Love).
In 1977, the next long-playing album “Songs of Volodymyr Ivasyuk Sings Sofia Rotaru” (“Sofia Rotaru sings the songs of Vladimir Ivasyuk”) was released - the record became a symbol in the discography Ukrainian stage, for which the singer received the Komsomol Central Committee Prize.
At “Song-77” Sofia performed the song “Seagulls over the Water” by E. Martynov and A. Dementiev, at “Song-78” - “Only for You” by O. Feltsman and R. Rozhdestvensky, as well as “ Father's house"E. Martynova and A. Dementieva in a duet with Czech singer Karel Gott.
In 1979, the Melodiya company released several albums performed by Sofia Rotaru: LP “Only for You”, LP “Sofia Rotaru”. Studio "Ariola" has released the long-awaited giant disc "Sofia Rotaru - Mu tenderness". According to Sofia Rotaru, working on a recording certainly helps improve performing skills, being an excellent opportunity to listen to yourself from the outside and draw critical conclusions.
Among the compositions of 1979, the songs by composer David Tukhmanov “Let's give the globe to the children”, performed with children's choirs, and the legendary song based on the poems of Robert Rozhdestvensky “My Motherland” stand out. Having performed the last song, Sofia Rotaru became the first rap performer in the USSR. The song received mixed reactions.
Remembering her on anniversary party in 2000, Tukhmanov said “The texts were opportunistic, but the emotions were real.” Sofia Rotaru emphasized in one of her interviews that the song speaks exclusively about love for the homeland. Also in 1979, the singer released compositions by Ion Aldea-Teodorovich - “Crede ma” and Yuri Saulsky - “Autumn Melody”, A. Ekimyan - “What can you compare love with?”
The last two songs won “Song of the Year” in 1979. The song “Autumn Melody” based on the verses of L. Zavalnyuk was an example of lyrical revelation. Sofia Rotaru successfully played on the contrast of the song with a static stage performance, but instead of a quiet performance, she sang the line “High melancholy, not explained in words,” loudly and shrilly, thus uninhibiting the manner of performance.
There is no dramatic sketch in the performance, but there is a fragment of a confession that the singer makes public: “Whoever has not lost friends and loved ones, Let him laugh at me!”
On May 18, 1979, Vladimir Ivasyuk tragically died, at the very peak of his popularity. For Sofia Rotaru, Ivasyuk wrote some of the best songs, which are included by the singer today in the first part of her concert programs. The song “Chervona Ruta” has become the so-called calling card of Rotaru, traditionally opening the singer’s programs, in different arrangements.
Sofia Rotaru said about Ivasyuk: “There will never be another composer like this in Ukraine.” The mystery of the death of Vladimir Ivasyuk has not yet been solved. After the tragic death of Ivasyuk, a number of works by composers from Moldova (in particular, the Teodorovich brothers) appeared in the singer’s repertoire.
After Sofia Rotaru stopped collaborating with Moldovan authors, in particular with Evgeniy Doga, the latter, in retaliation, actively spread rumors that Sofia Rotaru’s voice was being collected from notes on a computer.
Performing songs on different languages gave rise to disputes about Rotaru’s belonging to Moldavian or Ukrainian culture. She was considered “one of our own” in Russia, and in Armenia the question was even raised about conferring the title of “Honored Artist of the Armenian SSR.” During the collapse of the USSR in 1991, there was even a joke that during the negotiations in Belovezhskaya Pushcha the question was raised about “how we will divide Rotaru.”
The singer herself, who has lived her entire life on the territory of Ukraine (Marshintsy, Chernivtsi, Yalta, Kyiv), has always positioned herself as a citizen of Ukraine, without denying her Moldovan origin.
In 1980, Sofia Rotaru won 1st prize at an international competition in Tokyo for her performance of the Yugoslav song “Promise” and was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.
The singer continued to experiment with her image and appeared on stage for the first time among domestic female artists in a trouser suit, this time performing the hip-hop song “Temp” by Alexandra Pakhmutova with lyrics by Nikolai Dobronravov.
The songs “Temp” and “Expectation” were written for the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow and were included in the cultural program of the Games. “Temp” also became the soundtrack to the feature film “Ballad of Sports” directed by Yuri Ozerov. In 1980, the singer again reached the final of the Song of the Year, performing “My Land” by N. Mozgovoy and “Waiting” by Yu. Saulsky and L. Zavalnyuk.
In 1980, the film “Where Are You, Love?” was released. (original title “Year of Vocation”), filmed at the “Moldova-film” studio, in which, among many songs, the singer performed the song “First Rain”, without an understudy, riding on the back of a motorcycle along a narrow embankment in the middle of the sea.
According to the autobiographical plot, a rural singer is invited to join the ensemble, with which she wins the Grand Prix at an international festival with the song “Where are you, love?” R. Pauls to poems by I. Reznik.
At the box office, the film was watched by about 22 million viewers. In the same year, a double album was released - “Songs from the film “Where are you, love?”” with songs from the film of the same name by composers E. Martynov, O. Feltsman, A. Babajanyan, D. Tukhmanov. A. Mazhukov’s composition “Red Arrow” in 1980 became the debut young poet Nikolai Zinoviev in the pop genre.
The song was banned on All-Union Radio by the head of the music editorial office, Gennady Cherkasov, because he did not like the way Sofia Rotaru sang. But since the song premiered on television, it managed to become famous even without radio airplay.
In 1981, the film received the jury prize for popularizing song creativity Soviet composers at the XIV All-Union Film Festival in Vilnius in the feature films section.
This film was Sofia Rotaru's first experience in feature cinema. Many critics called this role a failure, nevertheless, the film won the love of the audience, and the songs sounded in the film became legendary: “Red Arrow” (music by Alexei Mazhukov, lyrics by Nikolai Zinoviev), “Where are you, love?” (music by Raymond Pauls, lyrics by Ilya Reznik), “Dance on the Drum” (music by Raymond Pauls, lyrics by Andrei Voznesensky).
The next stage of creativity began with the search for a new style - rock music and the film “Soul” with “Time Machine” in 1981 with songs by A. Zatsepin and A. Makarevich. Having received the first offer in Yalta to star in the leading role in the film, Sofia Rotaru refused, she was so sick and the doctors did not recommend her not only filming, but also further performances.
This prompted Alexander Borodyansky and Alexander Stefanovich to describe an autobiographical story about a dramatic situation in the singer’s life, about the loss of her voice, and the revelation of her soul at that moment (dialogue on the pier with an elderly man) followed by a reassessment of values.
Having seen the new rewritten script, as well as songs written in a completely new style for the singer, Sofia Rotaru agreed, moreover, she agreed to give up concert performances for a while in order to star in the film.
Thus, the film became a musical melodrama, affecting not only privacy artist and human relations, but also the question of attitude towards talent and the responsibility of talent to those for whom he creates. Rotaru’s partner in the film was actor Rolan Bykov, the lyrical hero was played by Leningrad actor Mikhail Boyarsky, and the rock band “Time Machine” was the new group of singer Victoria Svobodina. The film was watched at the box office by about 54 million viewers.
Sofia Rotaru reached the final of “Song of the Year” in 1982 with the songs “Melancolie” by P. Teodorovich and G. Vieru and “Get Up!” R. Amirkhanyan and H. Zakiyan. “Song 1983” included the songs “Happiness to you, my land” by Y. Saulsky and L. Zavalnyuk and “And the music sounds” by A. Mazhukov and N. Zinoviev.
After concerts in Canada and the release of the Canadian album in Toronto, Canadian Tour 1983, in 1983, Sofia Rotaru and her team became restricted from traveling abroad for five years. Official reason there wasn’t, but when calls from abroad came to the State Concert, they refused under the pretext that “she doesn’t work here.”
During the recording of the record in Germany, the State Concert gave her a rate of 6 rubles per minute of sound. The German side had to pay 156 marks and called back to Moscow. The next day, the translator told Sofia Rotaru: “Our boss decided to give you a small present, because Moscow does not allow you to increase the rate...” “I regret one thing - that this happened in my younger years, when so much could have been done,” said Sofia Rotaru .
In 1983, Sofia Rotaru gave 137 concerts on collective and state farms in Crimea. The collective farm "Russia" of the Crimean region and the Ministry of Culture of the Moldavian SSR nominated concert programs of Rotaru of 83–84 for the USSR State Prize. However, the famous singer was not awarded the prize, since all her solo concerts since the late 70s have been held exclusively with a plus soundtrack.
In 1983, Sofia Rotaru received the title of People's Artist of Moldova. In the same year, while listening to a melody specially written for her by the composer Kiriyak with the poet Vieru, Rotaru insisted on speaking about romance.
Her husband supported her and artistic director Anatoly Evdokimenko, and the poet wrote, but about the singer. Romantica is an adjective in Moldovan that means “romantic”.
In 1984, she presented “Romantica” at the “Song of the Year” festival. This song is included in most solo programs, including the latest ones. The second song performed was “I Can’t Forget” (composer D. Tukhmanov with lyrics by V. Kharitonov). The singer performed it in the dramatic image of a courageous nurse of the Second World War. Rotaru was invited to the GDR TV program “The Motley Cauldron”, where she performed the song in German.
In 1984, the LP “Tender Melody” was released. The album was a return to the original image with the song “Melancolie” (“Tender Melody”) by Zinoviev. In 1985, Sofia Rotaru received the “Golden Disc” prize from the All-Union company “Melodiya” for the albums “Sofia Rotaru” and “Tender Melody” - the best-selling records of the year in the USSR, selling more than 1,000,000 copies. In the same year, Sofia Rotaru was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples.
At the finale of “Song-85” the audience together with the singer sang “Stork on the Roof” by D. Tukhmanov and A. Poperechny and “In My House” by D. Tukhmanov and A. Sayed-Shah.
In the mid-1980s, a certain turning point emerged in creativity. The search for a new aesthetics of creativity permeated the musical film “Monologue about Love” (1986), in which, unlike the previous “Sofia Rotaru is inviting you” (1985), only I. Poklad’s composition “Water Flows” bore the same folklore character and the image of a collective farm girl, became a star. In the film “Monologue about Love” Sofia Rotaru performed the song “Amor” as a windsurfer, on the open sea and without an understudy.
“Monologue about Love” - an album released in 1986 with soundtracks and songs from the musical film of the same name, became Rotaru’s last work with the original Ukrainian composers. The ensemble "Chervona Ruta" returned to Ukrainian song and left the singer, which came as a big surprise for Rotaru and Anatoly Evdokimenko, artistic director of Chervona Ruta.
In one of her interviews, Sofia Rotaru answered a journalist’s question “Have you ever been truly scared?” answered: “When I was betrayed.
This was connected with the “Chervona Ruta” collective, which Tolik (A. Evdokimenko) once organized. It was the peak of popularity, when we were carried in our arms, when cars were lifted at concerts. It seemed to the guys that they could count on success without me, that I treated them wrong, that the repertoire was wrong, that they received little money... When Tolik and I left for our homeland, they got together and decided that they didn’t need us. They left with a scandal and with the name “Chervona Ruta.”
A sharp change in the direction of Rotaru’s work occurred after the start of collaboration with composer Vladimir Matetsky in 1986. “Lavender” and “Moon, Moon” by Muscovite Vladimir Matetsky have already appeared - two of the most popular songs of the USSR in 1986. The joint album of Rotaru and Matetsky “Golden Heart” was recorded with Moscow studio musicians.
Sofia Rotaru moved on to Europop compositions (“It was, but it’s gone”, “Moon”), up to elements of hard rock (“My Time”, “Only This Is Not Enough”). Matetsky and his co-author, poet Mikhail Shabrov, practically monopolized the right to collaborate with Rotaru over the next 15 years, producing talented works that were included in large numbers in concert programs in 1990-2000, and became popular due to Rotaru’s charismatic personality and her extraordinary vocal abilities. .
This collaboration began with the song “Lavender”, written by V. Matetsky in 1985 for her duet with Jaak Joala and which has not yet lost its popularity. “Lavender” was followed by “Moon, Moon”, “It Was, But It’s Gone”, “Wild Swans”, “Farmer”, “It’s September”, “Moonlight Rainbow”, “Stars Like Stars”, “Night Moth”, “Heart of Gold” ", "My life, my love" and many others.
In 1986, composer V. Migulya wrote the song “Life” especially for the singer, which was heard very rarely, but is memorable to listeners to this day.
Active touring activities and constant presence on musical broadcasts led to the fact that by the end of the 80s S. Rotaru objectively became the leader of Soviet song art. May 11, 1988 to Sofia Rotaru for great services in the development of the Soviet musical art awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR, the first of the modern pop singers.
At the same time, the transition to the Russian-language repertoire caused a certain rejection in Ukraine. Accusations of betrayal of national culture, in addition to the general growth of nationalism, were actively fueled by Soviet state production structures, philharmonic societies and concert associations, which, during the course of economic reforms, lost control over the financial side of Rotaru’s concert activities.
In order to avoid large-scale provocations, Rotaru refused to participate in the Chervona Ruta festival, held in her homeland in 1989. In the late 80s, strained interethnic relations led to the fact that in 1989, at a national concert in Lviv at the Druzhba stadium, part of the audience, opposed to Sofia Rotaru, greeted the singer with posters “Sofia, punishment awaits you!” and whistling, which led to clashes with her fans.
Nevertheless, Sofia Rotaru continued to sing Ukrainian songs and constantly included them in the first sections of concert programs. New songs of this period in the Ukrainian language were the works of N. Mozgovoy (“The Edge”, “The Day Is Gone”), A. Bliznyuk (“Echo of Fidelity”), E. Rybchinsky (“Flowing Water”), Y. Rybchinsky (“Ball of the Separated hearts"), and later - R. Quint (“Checkay”, “One viburnum”, “Fog”).
At the same time, she prepared and presented to the viewer in 1991 a new program, included in the album Romance, half consisting of remakes of songs by Ivasyuk and other famous Ukrainian composers and poets in the Ukrainian language, in particular, “Chervona Ruta”, “Cheremshina”, “Klenovy Vogon”, “Edge”, “Sizokriliy Ptakh”, “Zhovty Leaf”, which became classics of Ukrainian pop songs, after which such accusations fell apart.
In 1991, the next work of Rotaru and Matetsky was released - the LP “Caravan of Love” (Sintez Records, Riga, Latvia), also with a noticeable influence in the style of hard rock and metal, which was at the peak of its popularity at that time. Simultaneously with the album, a musical television film of the same name and a concert program, Golden Heart, were released, which became the last program of the singer during the USSR - in 1991, the union state did not exist, and Rotaru could not be divided between Russia, Ukraine and Moldova.
The collapse of the Union affected the geography of Sofia Rotaru's travels. The USSR Ministry of Culture obliged artists to tour “hot spots.” Having refused at first, Rotaru prepared the programs “Friends Remain Friends” and “Caravan of Love” presented in Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Tbilisi, Baku and Yerevan.
The concerts took place in rooms with inadequate conditions, which ultimately led to pneumonia. Sofia Rotaru said “I was warned: don’t go down to the hall, you never know. They even posted security. And I believe: what you go to a person with is what he will repay you with.”
In the late 80s, while participating in a group concert, Sofia Rotaru drew attention to the performance of the ballet “Todes” and invited her to collaborate. There is a lot of show ballet in dancing the most complex elements, there are various genres: from tango to break.
Dancing "Todes" made her songs more spectacular from a stage point of view. In concert programs of this period, Sofia Rotaru danced almost all songs with “Todes”. This creative union lasted about five years. Alla Dukhova, artistic director of the ballet, said that it was with Rotaru that the Todes ballet began its successful activities.
In 1991, Sofia Rotaru presented in Moscow an anniversary program dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the singer’s creative activity, decorated with laser graphics, candles and fantastic decorations in the form of a moving red flower from the legend of Chervona Ruta, from which the singer entered the stage.
The anniversary concerts “Flowers of Sofia Rotaru” took place at the State Central Concert Hall “Russia”. Central television broadcast this program, and it was released on video in the TV version of the concert.
Remaining faithful to the composition of the first part of her concert programs, the singer sang songs of her youth, but in bold remix versions of songs by Ivasyuk and other famous Ukrainian composers and poets in the Ukrainian language, in particular, “Chervona Ruta”, “Cheremshina”, “Klenovy Vogon” , “Edge”, “Blue Bird”, “Zhovty Leaf”, which have become classics of Ukrainian pop songs, as well as the new “Tango”, “Wild Swans” and others.
The concert also featured the Smerichka ensemble, which starred with Rotaru in the film Chervona Ruta. Closing the second part was the song “Echo”, with the words: “It takes years to become younger... Songs and poems go to people...”
After the collapse of the USSR and the commercialization of the musical space, the singer did not lose her leading position in show business and has a stable audience, including in the Russian-speaking diaspora in Europe and the USA. In 1992, a super hit was released by Rotaru - “Khutoryanka” (music by Vladimir Matetsky, lyrics by Mikhail Shabrov), according to the singer ““This song is for any audience!” The song was rotated in the lists of the “Soundtrack” hit parade of the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets”.
The singer left the Philharmonic and continued recording songs at her own studio in Yalta. In 1993, the first two CDs of the collection of the singer’s best songs were released - “Sofia Rotaru” and “Lavender”, then “Golden Songs 1985/95” and “Khutoryanka”.
In 1995, Sofia Rotaru starred in the musical film “Old Songs about the Main Thing” by the ORT television company (director Dmitry Fiks, producer Konstantin Ernst), performing the song “What You Were” (music by I. Dunaevsky, lyrics by M. Isakovsky).
In August 1996, Sofia Rotaru was awarded the Honorary Distinction of the President of Ukraine. In the same year, at “Song-96”, Sofia Rotaru was recognized as “Best Pop Singer of 1996” and was awarded the Klavdia Shulzhenko Prize.
In 1996, the songs “Night of Love” by Laura Quint with lyrics by M. Denisov and “There is No Place for Me in Your Heart” by Vladimir Matetsky with lyrics by Mikhail Faibushevich made it to the finals of the competition. “Swan Fidelity” was also performed, but was not broadcast on television.
In 1997, Sofia Rotaru starred in the musical film “10 Songs about Moscow” by the NTV television company (project of Leonid Parfenov and Janik Fayziev), with the song “May Moscow” (music by D. and D. Pokrass, lyrics by V. Lebedev-Kumach) with the group "Ivanushki International".
In 1997, Sofia Rotaru became an Honorary Citizen of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea; winner of the honorary prize of the President of Ukraine L. Kuchma for his outstanding contribution to the development of pop art “Song Vernissage” and Knight of the Order of the Republic of Moldova.
On September 16, 1997, at the age of 77, Sofia Rotaru’s mother, Alexandra Ivanovna Rotaru (born April 17, 1920), died. Before these events, Sofia Rotaru repeatedly canceled performances in the concert schedule, anniversary concerts, filming, and other tours.
On the set of the finale of “Songs-97”, the singer performed the songs “Your Sad Eyes” (by Vladimir Matetsky to the verses of Liliana Vorontsova), as well as “There Was a Time” (by Vladimir Matetsky to the verses of Mikhail Faibushevich) and “Sweater” (by Vladimir Matetsky to the verses of Alexander Shaganov ). As the chairman of the jury at the “Song Vernissage”, Sofia Rotaru noticed the performance of the young Lviv modern ballet “Akverias” under the direction of Oksana Lan and invited them to her program.
In 1998, Sofia Rotaru’s first official (numbered) CD was released, the album “Love Me,” released on the Extraphone label. In April of this year, the premiere of Rotaru’s new solo program “Love Me” took place at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow.
Also in 1998, Sofia Rotaru was awarded the “Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker” “For increasing goodness on Earth.” Sofia Rotaru becomes an Honorary Citizen of the city of Chernivtsi.
In 1999, the Star Records label released two more CD collections of the singer in the “Star Series”. At the end of 1999, Sofia Rotaru was recognized as the best singer of Ukraine in the “Traditional Variety” category, receiving the “Golden Firebird”, as well as a special award “for her contribution to the development of domestic pop music.”
In the same year, the singer was awarded the “Order of St. Princess Olga, III degree” for special personal merits in the development of song creativity, many years of fruitful concert activity and high performing skills. The Russian Biographical Institute recognized the singer as Person of the Year 1999.
In 2000, in Kyiv, Sofia Rotaru was recognized as “Man of the 20th Century”, “Best Ukrainian Pop Singer of the 20th Century”, “Golden Voice of Ukraine”, Winner of the “Prometheus - Prestige” Award, “Woman of the Year”. In the same year, Sofia Rotaru became the Laureate of the Ovation Prize, “For a special contribution to the development of the Russian stage.” In August 2000, the singer’s official website was opened.
In December 2001, Sofia Rotaru released a new solo concert program “My Life is My Love!” on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his creative activity. The expression of the 70s was supplemented by the lyricism of the 80s, the drive of the 90s and the play of halftones, on which Rotaru the director and Rotaru the singer built her program, combining new songs and hits of past years, read in a new way.
Many of her songs, no matter how many years ago they were sung, do not fit into the “retro” format, continuing to sound modern in each new concert program of the singer. The program premiered on December 13-15 at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow.
Sofia Rotaru also presented her new solo program “My Life is My Love…” in other cities of Russia, Ukraine and Germany. In this program, the singer performed independently for the first time as a production director, where Boris Krasnov worked with her for the first time as a production designer.
Before solo concerts in Moscow, the film and video association “Close-up” presented a video version of the film “Soul” filmed by the Mosfilm studio in 1981 with Sofia Rotaru in the title role. The film took 5th place at the box office in the USSR and is considered this moment(2009) Rotaru’s most successful film work.
In 2002, the song “My Life, My Love” opened “New Year’s Light” on the ORT channel. On January 20, the premiere of the television version of Sofia Rotaru’s anniversary solo program “My Life is My Love” took place, which was also released on video. On March 2, Sofia Rotaru performed for the first time with a club concert at the Metelitsa entertainment complex, which became an event in the cultural life of Moscow.
On March 6, President of Ukraine L. D. Kuchma awarded Sofia Rotaru the Order of “Holy Princess Olga” for “significant labor achievements, high professionalism and on the occasion International Day women's rights and peace."
In April, the first part of the singer’s large All-Russian tour began, covering most regions of Russia from the Far East to the South of Russia. The second part of the tour took place in September 2002, before touring cities in Germany.
In 2002, a new album, “I Still Love You,” was released. The official release of the album took place on April 23 at the Extraphone studio in Moscow. This album became the first production experience of Ruslan Evdokimenko, who attracted talented young authors Ruslan Kvinta and Dmitry Malikov to create songs.
Nevertheless most of compositions, as in the previous album “Love Me” from 1998, are the work of composer Vladimir Matetsky. The variety of styles of each song and the youth drive of “Girls with a Guitar” (considered the weakest by music critics, and which Sofia Rotaru dedicated to the birth of her granddaughter) appeared for the first time in more than 30 years of Sofia Rotaru’s work, along with remixes of the songs “You Don’t Ask” (author Rimma Kazakova) and “My life, my love” (in R&B style).
Part of the edition was issued as a gift, including a bonus track new song“Let go” and an exclusive gift-poster with the autograph of Sofia Rotaru.
On May 24, in Kyiv, in front of the building of the International Center for Culture and Arts, the opening ceremony of the Ukrainian Avenue of Stars took place, among which the “Star of Sofia Rotaru” was lit. On August 7, the singer’s birthday, Sofia Rotaru was awarded the highest title in Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine, “for significant personal services to the Ukrainian state in the development of art, selfless work in the field of preserving national cultural traditions, enhancing the heritage of the people of Ukraine."
On August 9, 2002, Sofia Rotaru was awarded the Order of Honor by Presidential Decree Russian Federation“For his great contribution to the development of pop art and the strengthening of Russian-Ukrainian cultural ties.”
On August 17 in Yalta, on City Day, Sofia Rotaru presented to more than 6 thousand spectators at the Avangard stadium a show with light, laser and pyrotechnic special effects, specially brought from Kyiv. Also in the summer, remastered versions of the albums “Golden Songs 85–95” and “Khutoryanka” were released on the “Extraphone” label (Moscow, Russia). Part of this edition was released as a gift with a bonus track and an autographed poster of the singer.
On October 23, after another stroke, Sofia Rotaru’s husband Anatoly Kirillovich Evdokimenko (producer and artistic director of the Chervona Ruta group, director of most of the singer’s concert programs) died in a Kyiv clinic.
Sofia Rotaru canceled all concert performances and television filming, refused to participate in the filming of the musical “Cinderella”, and for the first time in 30 years did not take part in the final of the “Song of the Year” festival. After a bereavement, Rotaru temporarily stopped active touring.
On December 25, the official release of Sofia Rotaru’s song collection “The Snow Queen” took place, released on the “Extraphone” label (Moscow, Russia). Part of the album's circulation came with an exclusive gift from Sofia Rotaru - a poster of the singer.
In 2002, the official release of the video version of the film “Where Are You, Love?” directed by Valeriu Gagiu, released by the film studio “Moldova-Film” in 1980. The video version of the film was published by ARENA Corporation. Starring Sofia Rotaru, Grigore Grigoreu, Konstantin Konstantinov, Evgeniy Menshov, Ekaterina Kazemirova, Victor Chutak. The singer begins collaboration with guitarist Vasily Bogatyrev.
At the end of 2002, Sofia Rotaru took 2nd place in popularity among all domestic performers and groups in Russia (the study was conducted by the sociological service of the Gallup Institute).
In 2003, Sofia Rotaru appeared in a composition - “White Dance”, by Ukrainian authors Oleg Makarevich and Vitaly Kurovsky. A new stage of her work began with performances at the Rossiya concert hall in Moscow in honor of the laying of a personalized star on the alley in front of the hall.
The main authors working with Rotaru were composers Ruslan Kvinta (“One Viburnum”), Oleg Makarevich (“White Dance”) and Konstantin Meladze (“I Loved Him,” “Alone in the World”), as well as poet Vitaly Kurovsky. In the same year, an album dedicated to “The Only One” was released, in memory of Sofia Rotaru’s husband, with new songs and arrangements in Ukrainian and Moldavian, as well as the collection “Leaf Fall”.
In 2004, after a four-year break, Sofia Rotaru gave two big solo concerts in Chicago and Atlantic City, where she performed in one of the most prestigious halls - the Taj Mahal theater-casino (in 2001, the tour there was disrupted due to the fact that the sound engineer did not receive a visa).
Twice, swindlers took advantage of Sofia Mikhailovna’s popularity - without the singer’s knowledge, they announced concerts in the most prestigious halls in the United States and successfully sold tickets.
In 2004, the album “The Sky is Me” and “Lavender, Farmer, Then Everywhere…” was released.
In 2005, the album “I loved him” was released.
In 2004, 2005 and 2006, Sofia Rotaru became the most beloved singer in Russia according to surveys by one of the rating sociological agencies.
On August 7, 2007, Sofia Rotaru celebrated her 60th birthday. Hundreds of fans, as well famous artists and politicians came to Yalta from different parts of the world to congratulate the singer. President of Ukraine V. Yushchenko awarded Sofia Rotaru the Order of Merit, II degree. The reception on the occasion of the anniversary took place at the Livadia Palace.
Honoring the singer continued in September in Sochi, where at the “Five Stars” music competition for young performers, one of the competition days was dedicated to her work. And in October 2007, the State Kremlin Palace hosted anniversary concerts of S. Rotaru, in which popular Russian performers took part (A. Pugacheva, F. Kirkorov, I. Kobzon, L. Leshchenko, N. Babkina, L. Dolina, A. Varum, K. Orbakaite, M. Rasputina, N. Baskov, V. Daineko and others) and Ukraine (T. Povaliy, V. Meladze, Potap and Nastya Kamenskikh, Tanok on the Maidan of the Congo, and others).
The last unreleased single of 2007, “I am your love,” took first place, spending four weeks on the Golden Gramophone chart of Russian Radio. From March to May 2008, Sofia Rotaru was on an anniversary tour of Russia. The first unreleased single in 2008 was the song “Lilac Flowers,” performed at a concert dedicated to March 8.
Currently (2009) Rotaru is actively touring, participating in national concerts and television programs. He is in excellent physical and vocal shape and has enormous authority in Ukrainian and Russian musical circles. And now, at 62 years old, Sofia Mikhailovna looks 20 years younger, and doctors even forbade Rotaru from having facial plastic surgery.
Sofia Rotaru does not support this or that political ideology - love is still the main theme of her songs today. However, politics also invaded this area - when in the mid-70s the German company Ariola (now Sony BMG Music Entertainment), after recording the song Immensita in Italian and the songs Wer Liebe sucht, Deine Zartlichkeit, Es muss nicht sein, Wenn die Nebel ziehen in German, invited her to record (most of Rotaru’s albums were recorded in Germany) big studio album with these and other songs in French and English, as well as organize a concert tour across countries Western Europe, the USSR concert administration banned Sofia Rotaru from traveling abroad for 7 years. This ban was implemented before the tour in Canada, which was cancelled.
The song “My Motherland,” sung several decades ago, is still popular today, causing controversial interpretations, while the song talks about love.
During the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, Sofia Rotaru and her family distributed food to people who came to the Maidan of Independence in Kyiv, regardless of their political views.
In 2006, he took an active part in the elections to the Ukrainian parliament, running for people's deputies as number two on the list of the "Lytvyn Bloc". Conducts a large campaign charity tour through the cities of Ukraine, but the bloc does not gain the required number of votes and does not enter parliament.
Among the main reasons why Sofia Rotaru supported this particular bloc, she named personal trust in V. Lytvyn’s balance, as well as interest in lobbying for the law on patronage in Ukraine.
After counting all Rotaru’s songs performed in the finals of the “Song of the Year” festival, it turned out that Rotaru holds the absolute record among all participants in history - 72 songs performed at 34 festivals (1973–2008, except 2002).
Family
* brothers - Anatoly and Evgeniy Rotaru (bass guitar, vocals) - worked in the Chisinau VIA "Orizont".
* sisters - Zinaida, Lydia and Aurika.
* husband - Evdokimenko Anatoly Kirillovich, People's Artist of Ukraine (01/20/1942–10/23/2002);
* son - Ruslan;
* daughter-in-law - Svetlana;
* grandchildren - Anatoly and Sofia.
Besides Sofia, on professional level her younger sister Aurika performed, combining solo career with performances as a backing vocalist, as well as a duet of brother and sister - Lydia and Evgeniy. Unlike Aurica, the duo, working in the style of Italian pop music of the 80s, did not achieve noticeable success, and in 1992 they stopped performing.
Since the late 1980s, Lydia and Evgeniy Rotaru with the group “Cheremosh” have appeared in Sofia Rotaru’s concert programs. Lydia and Evgeniy are Sofia's sister and brother. After graduating from medical school and working in a clinic, Lydia sang in amateur performances and was invited to become a soloist of the Cheremosh ensemble, which had just been created at the Chernivtsi Philharmonic.
Evgeniy graduated from the Nikolaev Pedagogical Institute, department of music and singing, played the bass guitar, sang in the popular Moldavian “Horizonte”, then became the soloist of “Cheremosh”. The Cheremosh ensemble was created in the late 70s at the Chernivtsi Philharmonic. It was a duet of the Rotaru sisters - Lydia and Aurika, who toured throughout the Union. After working for 10 years, Aurika got married and left for Kyiv, gave birth to a daughter and temporarily left the stage.
Then Lida began performing in a duet with her brother Evgeniy, and after the birth of her daughter, she retired from the stage, like Evgeniy, who became a farmer. Aurika created her own ensemble “Contact”, with which she performed in Ukraine.
Since 1992, Aurika traveled with Sofia, performing several of her songs during the break between the two sections. In the anniversary year of 2007, they performed together several times, including in the Anniversary Concert and in the New Year’s version of the “Two Stars” program.
The oldest official fan club of Sofia Rotaru is “Fortune”. The fan club was founded in 1988 by Elena Nikitenko from Novorossiysk and unites wide audience fans both in Russia and abroad. The Fortuna fan club publishes collections of poetry and prose, publishes articles in the media, shoots videos and photographs, and has one of the largest archives of Sofia Rotaru’s work. On September 30, 2000, the fan club opened its website on the Internet.
In 2003, the ROTARUNEWS portal was created. Its creation was preceded by a direct weekly mailing with latest news about the life and work of S. Rotaru.
Among the subscribers: fans of Sofia Rotaru, representatives of the media (online, print, radio and television) from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Israel, USA, Germany, Czech Republic, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, and other countries. The authors of the project are Ruslan Shulga, Sergey Kotov and Sergey Sergeev (design). The project had practically exhausted itself by 2007 and remains frozen to this day.
Moscow sites of journalist Boris Kogut/ and Victoria Likhotkina “Chervona Ruta”, Riga site, Ural site of fans, as well as Estonian - “Snow Queen”, Lviv All-Ukrainian - “Golden Heart”, Rotaru-TV site from ED-TV, Kazakh and “Melancolie”, “The Island of My Love”, “Love Me” links to these and other fan clubs, as well as extensive videography/, “Caravan of Love”, Czech blog of Richard Kosch.
Among friends in the field of entrepreneurship, notable is Alimzhan Tokhtatunov “Taivanchik” - philanthropist, entrepreneur, order bearer, and businessman, co-owner of two Moscow casinos, who helped Sofia Rotaru (who by that time had become Ukrainian singer) with participation in “Song of the Year”, which became a Russian festival.
In 1972, seeing the singer at a concert, he arranged a magnificent banquet for her and the musicians (later Alimzhan Tokhtatunov said: “Well, nothing like that happened, I just took her, like speculators used to be, I took her to a speculator, she bought a fur coat there for herself and All").
This entrepreneur is also known for the scandal that occurred in 2002 at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, related to accusations brought against him of bribing judges. After spending a year in prison, he was released due to insufficient evidence. Nevertheless, Sofia Rotaru spoke out in his defense, despite the fact that Interpol is interested in him.
One of her fans, Galina Starodubova, caused a great response in the press. She managed to gain confidence in the singer and her concert administration. When at one of the concerts she demanded more contact and was refused, she began to threaten the singer and the concert administrator.
The only recognized double of Sofia Rotaru is Dionysus Kelm. He is also engaged in concert activities with a repertoire identical to that of S. Rotaru. Sofia Rotaru officially recognized the double, who imitates Sofia Rotaru’s style of performance and Lilia Pustovit’s costumes.
Discography
* 1990 - Sofia Rotaru 1990
* 1991 - Caravan of Love (album 1991)
* 1991 - Romance (album)
* 1993 - Caravan of Love (album)
* 1993 - Lavender (album)
* 1995 - Golden Songs 1985/95
* 1995 - Farmer
* 1996 - Night of Love (album)
* 1996 - Chervona Ruta 1996
* 1998 - Love me as I am (album)
* 2002 - I still love you
* 2002 - The Snow Queen
* 2003 - To the One
* 2004 - Water Flows (album)
* 2004 - The sky is me
* 2004 - Lavender, Farmer, then everywhere...
* 2005 - I loved him
* 2007 - Fog
* 2008 - I am your love!
Filmography
- Musical TV films
* “The Nightingale from the Village of Marshintsy” (1966)
* “Chervona Ruta” (1971)
* “The Song is Always with Us” (1975)
* “Sofia Rotaru Sings” (1978)
* "Musical Detective" (1979)
* “Chervona Ruta, 10 years later” (1981)
* “Sofia Rotaru invites you” (1985)
* “Monologue about Love” (1986)
* "Heart of Gold" (1989)
* "Caravan of Love" (1990)
* “One Day at the Sea” (1991)
* “Old songs about the main thing” (1996)
* “10 songs about Moscow” (1997)
* “Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro” (2003)
* "The Snow Queen" (2005)
* “Sorochinskaya Fair” (2005)
* "Metro" (2006)
* "Star Holiday" (2007)
* “Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors” (2007)
* "Goldfish" (2009)
Art films
* 1980 - Where are you, love? (the main role)
* 1981 - “Soul” (main role)
Awards and prizes
* Winner of the regional amateur art competition (1962)
* First degree diploma at the regional amateur art show (Chernivtsi-1963)
* Laureate of the Republican Festival of Folk Talents, (1964)
* Golden medal and first prize at IX World Festival youth and students (Sofia, Bulgaria, 1968)
* First prize at the Golden Orpheus festival (Burgas, Bulgaria, 1973)
* Laureate of the festival “Burshtiny Nightingale” (Diamond Nightingale), (Sopot, Poland, 1974)
* Winner of the Ovation Prize, laying the name star in Yalta (1996)
* Laureate of the award named after. Klavdia Shulzhenko “Best pop singer of 1996” (1996)
* Winner of the All-Ukrainian Prize in the field of music and mass entertainment “Golden Firebird-99” in the nomination “Traditional Variety” (1999)
Sofia Rotaru once said: “My repertoire includes songs of different genres, but almost always a dramatic plot, a dramatic melody. A song for me is a small short story with its own world of feelings, dramatic structure, and characters.” This is why we love Rotaru - for the real, genuine drama that can only be played by a singer with a great voice, real talent, strong character and a huge reserve of love. And many of her musical short stories eventually created a legend out of her.
Sofia Mikhailovna was born in the outback of the vast USSR empire shortly after the Great Patriotic War in 1947. Her father went through the entire war as a machine gunner and returned alive. There were six children in a hard-working and musical family, and all of them sang and worked with early childhood. In her memoirs, Sofia Mikhailovna repeatedly talked about how her mother woke her up at six in the morning to go to work at the market (remembering the difficult experience of her childhood, even at an advanced age, Sofia Mikhailovna never bargained in the markets and forbade her husband). However, the parents were always sure that their daughter would become an artist, since from a very young age she had an unusually strong and beautiful voice, for which she was nicknamed “the nightingale” in her native village. Moreover, little Sofia could sing in any circumstances: either at work, or locked at night in a barn with a button accordion. Mom said this about her: “You only have music in your head.” And her father (Sofia Rotaru’s singing talent comes from him) was always sure: “Sonya will be an artist.”
Little Sonya made the decision to become an artist from early childhood. Therefore, she actively participated in school amateur performances. And thus I got to the regional review. At these regional shows in Chernivtsi in 1962 and 1963, Sofia Rotaru received not only a first degree diploma, but also fame at the regional level. After the competitions, the singer with a pronounced contralto was already nicknamed “The Bukovinian Nightingale.”
The next step towards success is the result of those same regional competitions - as the winner, in 1964, Rotara is sent to Kyiv to participate in the republican festival of young talents. She becomes the first again. And this time he receives not only public recognition, but an unexpected bonus from fate itself. After winning the festival, Sofia Rotaru’s portrait is printed on the cover of Ukraine magazine No. 27 for 1965. At the same time, in the Urals, in Nizhny Tagil, recruit Anatoly Evdokimenko is serving in the army. After seeing the magazine, he falls in love with the girl on the cover. So much so that after his service he goes to Ukraine and finds her. In 1968, Sofia and Anatoly got married and lived together all their lives (Anatoly died in 2002).
Meanwhile, back in the same distant year of 1964, Sofia Rotaru is becoming more and more famous. She is already performing on the stage of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. Her work attracts attention also because, in addition to her strong voice and her own unique style of performance, the singer boldly undertakes musical experiments, boldly mixing folk songs with modern arrangements. In that distant and difficult time, when everyone’s songs mainly glorify the party and the Komsomol, Sofia Rotaru sings about love in Russian, Ukrainian, Moldavian and even Spanish, adding to her music elements of jazz, instrumental arrangement and recitative, which was not previously No one did it on the Soviet stage.
However, after all her victories, Sofia Rotaru returns to Chernivtsi so that, since she has decided to devote her life to music, she can receive a music education. And enters Chernivtsi School of Music to the conducting and choral department (since there was no vocal department there).
The following competitions and festivals are only after graduation. And the first place Rotaru goes is the Ninth World Festival in Bulgaria. There, the singer not only takes first prize and a gold medal for performing Ukrainian and Moldavian folk songs, but also receives a start in life from the head of the jury, Lyudmila Zykina. “This is a singer with a great future,” Zykina said about Rotaru.
And again, after the resounding success, Rotaru is in no hurry to become a mega-star. From 1968 to 1971, we didn’t hear much about her. The singer herself at this time works as a music teacher, then gets married and gives birth to a son, Ruslan. It is interesting that at this time Anatoly Evdokimenko worked at the plant named after. Lenin, so the young family spent their honeymoon in the dormitory of the 105th military plant. And while her husband was building socialism, Sofia Rotaru cooked food for everyone, and in the evenings she sang at the Otdykh club.
Well, in 1971, Sofia Rotaru goes into battle again. “It’s good that I managed to give birth to a son,” she will say later. “Until these endless tours began.” And they really began in the 70s. First there was filming, in the musical film “Chervona Ruta”, where Rotaru starred in the title role, and after filming the film she created a group of the same name. Rotaru will be inseparable from the Chervona Ruta group for many years, and will achieve enormous success, consolidating her image as a singer of folklore material in modern arrangements - a representative of an entire direction of Soviet pop art. And her first performance with the Chervona Ruta group is the concert they give for astronauts in Star City.
This stage is followed by increasingly larger ones - “Russia”, the Variety Theater, the Kremlin Palace. 1971 becomes the year from which Sofia Rotaru officially begins her creative activity. And already in the same year, the singer begins to attract full houses, not only in the USSR, but also in the countries of the socialist camp - Poland and Bulgaria. In the mid-70s, Rotaru further increased its popularity by collaborating with talented and popular composers and poets. At this time, many hits appear that will go with her throughout her life, becoming her calling card. Such as “Stork on the Roof” by David Tukhmanov, “Dance on the Drum” by Raymond Pauls and “Swan Fidelity” by Evgeny Martynov are complex, dramatic songs that require the performer not only to have excellent voice control, but also, of course, acting skills. The fact that every person still associates all of them with Sofia Rotaru speaks only of one thing - no one sang them better than her.
Already at this time, Rotaru received full recognition from the entire Soviet public. Well, in 1976 it became official - she was awarded the title of People's Artist of Ukraine. True, if you lose it in one place, you will find it in another, and vice versa. At the same time, the West began to become very interested in Sofia Rotaru; a German recording company was ready to record a large studio disc with her. However, Rotaru was not allowed into the West. It got to the point of ridiculousness: when Western producers called the State Concert, they were answered like this: “Rotaru? This kind of thing doesn’t work here.”
In the 80s, Rotaru also actively gives concerts, and at the same time acts in films, and not only sings on the screen, but also performs all the stunts on his own. At this time she was very sick, but did not stop touring. Due to the extreme thinness of the singer, terrible rumors begin to circulate about her that she allegedly has asthma and will soon die. Instead - you can't wait! - Rotaru is doing what he has been dreaming of for a long time. Many people dream about this, but in the Soviet Union it is impossible - the singer releases a music album in the West, in Canada. For this she was punished - she and her group “Chervona Ruta” were banned from traveling abroad for five years. But after a while they were rewarded. In 1983, Rotaru became the People's Artist of Moldova.
In the second half of the 80s, Sofia Rotaru tried herself in a new image - she began collaborating with composer Vladimir Matetsky, and elements of rock were added to her music. Since then, she has had several new lasting super hits, such as “Moon, Moon”, “Farmer Woman”, “Golden Heart”, “This Is Not Enough”, etc. Her popularity soars to the skies. In 1988, Sofia Rotaru became People's Artist of the USSR. It would seem that she is at the top. However, it was at this time that something happened to the singer that later in an interview she would call “the biggest betrayal in her life.” The Chervona Ruta group leaves her in full force. In one of her interviews, Sofia Rotaru answered a journalist’s question: “Have you ever been truly scared?” answered: “When I was betrayed. This was connected with the Chervona Ruta collective, which Tolik (A. Evdokimenko) organized at one time. It was the peak of popularity, when we were carried in our arms, when cars were lifted at concerts. The guys thought that they could count on success without me, that I treated them wrong, that my repertoire was wrong, that they received little money... They got together and decided that they didn’t need us. They left with a scandal and with the name “Chervona Ruta.”
At the same time, unpleasant events awaited the singer in Ukraine. Local musical figures were increasingly irritated by the fact that the singer was collaborating with Russia and singing in Russian. As a result, some production structures and concert associations, which lost control over the financial side Rotaru's concert activities, riots were organized at her concerts in Lvov. The singer, who came on stage to sing, was booed, shaking placards: “Sofia, punishment awaits you!”
However, this did not stop the singer, she continued to give concerts, and sing Ukrainian, Moldovan, and Russian songs, without separating himself from any culture to which he believes he belongs.
As before, so later, at the turn of the century, Sofia Rotaru remained unshakable, like a rock. The only time in her life she allowed herself to cancel concerts was when her husband, Anatoly Evdokimenko, with whom the singer lived her life, died of a stroke in October 2002.
This is all she is - Great singer Sofia Rotaru, which today belongs to three states - Ukraine, Moldova and Russia. Iron character and unconditional talent are a unique formula that created a legend. And even now, at 65, she continues to inspire admiration, maintaining not only excellent professional shape, but also remaining stunning beautiful woman, who decided everything in her life, managed to do it and did it right. Another proof of this is her son Ruslan, who gave her two grandchildren - Anatoly and Sofia Rotaru.
Data
- There are peculiar discrepancies in the spelling of the singer's surname. In the credits of some films where she starred, her last name is written as Rotar. The fact is that the village of Marshintsi, where the singer was born, was part of Romania until 1940, so this pronunciation of the singer’s surname is simply the same, only in the Romanian manner. Edita Pieha advised Sofia to write her surname in the Moldovan style with the letter “u” at the end.
- In the feature film “Where Are You, Love?” there is an episode where Sofia Rotaru milks a cow. In the same film there is an episode where Sofia Rotaru rides a motorcycle. And in another film, “Monologue about Love,” where the singer starred, she windsurfs on the open sea. And she did all this herself.
- As a child, Sofia Rotaru sang in a church choir, for which they wanted to expel her from the pioneers.
- Sofia Rotaru is Moldovan by nationality, but has Ukrainian citizenship. Since both national themes are strongly intertwined in her work, both countries consider her their singer. And during the collapse of the USSR in 1991, there was even a joke that during the negotiations in Belovezhskaya Pushcha the question was raised: “How will we divide Rotaru?”
- After counting all Rotaru’s songs performed in the finals of the Song of the Year festival, it turned out that Rotaru holds the absolute record among all participants in history - 83 songs performed at 38 festivals.
Awards
USSR
1978 - Lenin Komsomol Prize - for high performing skills and active propaganda of Soviet song
1980 - Order of the Badge of Honor
1985 - Order of Friendship of Peoples
Ukraine
1996 — Honorary insignia of the President of Ukraine
1999 - Order of Princess Olga, III degree - for outstanding personal achievements in the development of song creativity, many years of fruitful concert activity, high performing skills
2002 - Order of Princess Olga, 1st degree - for significant labor achievements, high professionalism and on the occasion of the International Day of Women's Rights and Peace
2002 - Hero of Ukraine - for outstanding services to the Ukrainian state in the development of art, dedicated work in the field of preserving national cultural traditions and enhancing the song heritage of the peoples of Ukraine
2002 - Order of the Power
2007 - Order of Merit, II degree - for significant personal contribution to the development of Ukrainian musical art, high performing skills and many years of fruitful activity
Russia
2002 - Order of Honor - for his great contribution to the development of pop art and strengthening Russian-Ukrainian cultural ties
Moldova
1997 - Order of the Republic of Moldova
Ranks
1973 - Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR
1975 - People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR
1983 - People's Artist of the Moldavian SSR
1988 - People's Artist of the USSR
1997 - Honorary Citizen of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea
1998 — Honorary citizen of Chernivtsi
Honorary citizen of Yalta
Prizes and awards:
1962 - Winner of the regional amateur art competition
1963 — First degree diploma at the regional show of amateur performances
1964 - Laureate of the Republican Festival of Folk Talents,
1968 - Gold medal and first prize at the IX World Festival of Youth and Students
1973 - First prize at the Golden Orpheus festival
1974 - Second prize at International festival songs in Sopot
1977 - Laureate of the Ukrainian Republican Komsomol Prize named after. N. Ostrovsky
1981 - 1978 - Laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize
1981 - Art. film "Where are you love?" receives a prize at the All-Union Film Festival in Vilnius
1996 - Winner of the Ovation Prize, laying a personal star in Yalta
1996 - Winner of the Prize named after. Klavdia Shulzhenko “Best pop singer of 1996”
1997 — Honorary Prize of the President of Ukraine for outstanding contribution to the development of pop art “Song Vernissage”
1999 - Winner of the All-Ukrainian Prize in the field of music and mass entertainment “Golden Firebird - 99” in the category “Traditional Variety”
1999 - “Person of the Year” according to the recognition of the “Russian Biographical Institute”, “Woman of the Year”, Kiev
2000 — Laureate of the Ovation Prize, “For a special contribution to the development of the Russian stage,” Moscow
2000 - “Man of the 20th century”, “Best Ukrainian pop singer of the 20th century”, Kyiv
2000 - Winner of the Prometheus - Prestige Award
2003 - National Prize Laureate public recognition achievements of women "Olympia" of the Russian Academy of Business and Entrepreneurship
2002 - “Star of Ukraine” laying of a personal star in the center of Kyiv, honorary diploma and memorial Chest sign"Ukrainian pop star"
2008 - Winner of the Ovation Award, Pop Music - Masters, Moscow
Movies
Musical TV films
1966 - “The Nightingale from the village of Marshintsy”
1971 — “Chervona Ruta”
1975 - “The song is always with us”
1978 - “Sofia Rotaru sings”
1979 — “Musical Detective”
1981 — “Chervona Ruta, 10 years later”
1985 - “Sofia Rotaru invites you”
1986 — “Monologue about love”
1989 — “Heart of Gold”
1990 — “Caravan of Love”
1991 — “One Day at the Sea”
1996 — “Old songs about the main thing”
1997 — “10 songs about Moscow”
2003 — “Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro”
2005 — “The Snow Queen”
2005 — “Sorochinskaya Fair”
2006 — “Metro”
2007 — “Star Vacation”
2007 — “The Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors”
2009 — “Goldfish”
Art films
1980 - Where are you, love?
1981 - Soul
Albums
1972 Sofia Rotaru
1972 Sofia Rotaru sings
1972 Chervona Ruta
1973 Sofia Rotaru sings
1973 Ballad of Violins
1974 Sofia Rotaru
1975 Sofia Rotaru sings songs by Vladimir Ivasyuk
1977 Sofia Rotaru
1978 Sofia Rotaru
1980 Only for you
1981 Sofia Rotaru
1981 Songs from the film “Where are you, love?”
1981 Sofia Rotaru and “Chervona Ruta”
1982 Sofia Rotaru
1985 Tender Melody
1987 Monologue about love
1988 Heart of Gold
1990 Sofia Rotaru
1991 Caravan of Love
1991 Romance
1993 Caravan of Love
1993 Lavender
1995 Golden Songs
1995 Farmer
1996 Night of Love
1996 Chervona Ruta
1998 Love me
2002 I still love you
2002 Snow Queen
2003 To the One
2004 Water Flows
2004 The sky is me
2005 I loved him
2007 What's the weather like in my heart?
2007 Fog
2007 You are my heart
2008 I am your love!
2010 I won't look back
2012 And my soul flies
Sofia Rotaru was born on August 7, 1947 in the village of Marshyntsi, Chernivtsi region. She was born into a Moldovan family living in Ukraine.
“Don’t you dare rob people!”
There were six children in the family, so everyone had to work. Moreover, the time was post-war, difficult... Rotaru said more than once in an interview that her mother woke her up at three in the morning in order to leave early and take a place at the market. Together with their mother, they loaded jugs and cans with milk, sour cream, etc. onto the cart. As soon as the goods were displayed, a crowd of buyers immediately formed, because Alexandra Ivanovna Rotaru everyone in the area knew her as a clean and hardworking housewife and adored her milk. By the way, in several programs and autobiographical films, the Soviet pop star Sofia Rotaru more than once demonstrated her milking skills. However, the singer knows how to plow a garden, remove manure, and look after livestock. She was taught all this by her mother, who had been best friend Sofia Mikhailovna. When the artist’s mother began to get sick in the 1990s, Rotaru without a second thought canceled concerts and filming and flew to her mother in Chernivtsi. By the way, remembering her mother’s hard work in the market, Sofia Mikhailovna never bargained at the market herself, nor did she allow her relatives to do so. If someone she knew tried to reduce the price of tomatoes, cucumbers, or milk in her presence, Rotaru would reprimand: “This is hellish work. Don’t you dare rob these people.”
Sofia Rotaru with her family. 1979 Photo: RIA Novosti / Igor Kostin
Rotaru’s mother lived to be 77 years old and died in 1997, which provoked severe depression in the singer. Only my beloved family and work saved me, and also the love of the audience.
By the way, Sofia Rotaru’s love for music comes from childhood. Firstly, the singer's father Mikhail Fedorovich loved to sing with his wife at home. Secondly, Sofia’s older sister lost her ability to see after typhus. This sharpened the girl's hearing. Zina Rotaru I started listening to the radio day and night. And she taught all her younger brothers and sisters to sing. Therefore, subsequently not only Sofia, but also Aurika, And Lydia Rotar They became singers and actively performed, singing in duets and trios. And the brothers Anatoly And Eugene worked at VIA "Orizont".
Wedding of Sofia Rotaru (singer) and Anatoly Evdokimenko pic.twitter.com/uxCXQeDrFv
Music connected them
By the way, it was thanks to music that Sofia Rotaru met the love of her life - Anatoly Evdokimenko. The singer told the story of their acquaintance more than once and with pleasure. This story really is similar to the plot of a movie. After a photograph of a young Ukrainian-Moldovan singer was published on the cover of the magazine “Ukraine,” a young guy, a music school graduate and a talented trumpeter from Chernivtsi, who was serving in the army in the Urals at that moment, saw the lovely girl and fell in love with her in absentia. Returning home, he began to look for Rotaru. And I found it. As a result, they turned out to be not only a family, but also a creative tandem. Evdokimenko, having got married, organized a pop orchestra, where, naturally, his wife was the soloist.
Sofia Mikhailovna says in an interview that Anatoly did not want children, he was passionate about work, tours, etc. Therefore, one day Rotaru cheated - she told her husband that she had been to the doctor and he said that she was pregnant. “In the end, Tolya relaxed,” recalls the singer. The child was born 11 months after the “news” of pregnancy. In August 1970, a handsome son was born, who was named Ruslan. The artist later said in an interview that she was very glad that she decided to give birth to a child early, because then professional affairs would have overwhelmed her and Anatoly’s family and they would have postponed having children. And how it would end - only God knows.
It must be said that the most important value for Sofia Rotaru has always been family. And even in work and creativity, she tried to surround herself not with strangers, but with family. So, her son Ruslan Evdokimenko today is the music producer of Sofia Rotaru, daughter-in-law Svetlana Evdokimenko- executive producer. Having a happy example before your eyes family life parents, Ruslan also built happy family. In his marriage to the beautiful Svetlana, two children were born, who were named after their grandparents - Anatoly and Sofia.
By the way, today Sofia Jr. is a successful fashion model. Everyone noticed the beauty of the granddaughter famous singer, when Sofia Evdokimenko attended the Moscow Debutante Ball, organized by the glossy magazine Tatler. The girl was with her mother Svetlana Evdokimenko and her daughter Vera Brezhneva Sonya Kiperman, accompanied by her grandmother.
Son of Sofia Rotaru Ruslan Evdokimenko with his wife Svetlana and daughter Sofia Evdokimenko. 2017 Photo: RIA Novosti / Ekaterina Chesnokova
Sofia Mikhailovna Rotaru noted that she is very proud of her grandchildren and rejoices at their achievements. Unfortunately, the singer’s husband, People’s Artist of Ukraine Anatoly Kirillovich Evdokimenko, who passed away in October 2002, was unable to see the success of his grandchildren Sofia and Anatoly.
Several years before his death, Evdokimenko was seriously ill and was practically immobilized. Sofia Mikhailovna, as in the case of her beloved mother Alexandra Ivanovna, threw all her strength and resources into the treatment of her beloved husband, sacrificing everything and everyone just to help her beloved Tolik.
After Evdokimenko passed away, Rotaru became a recluse for some time. But she continued to receive letters from the audience who adored her, who created dozens of singer fan clubs. Little by little, the singer began to return to work and perform periodically.Last time people's artist USSR Spectators saw Sofia Rotaru at the “Heat” festival in Baku, where the singer’s creative evening took place. The public noted that Rotaru looks stunning and even on the eve of her 70th birthday, we can safely say that time has no power over this talented and strong woman. Sofia Mikhailovna wore a red maxi dress with embroidery. To the delight of fans, Sofia Mikhailovna performed the hits “Chervona Ruta”, “Khutoryanka”, “One Kalina”, “The Sky is Me”, beloved by many generations of listeners. I came to the creative evening and younger sister Aurika, together with Sofia Mikhailovna they performed the famous “Melancolie”.
